Air Force ROTC’s year in a glance

Sarena Shilts, second to right, accepts her scholarship award and commander sword at the dining out event. Photo courtesy of Shilts.

TCU’s Air Force ROTC program is ranked the number one small detachment in the country and has accomplished so many things despite its small size.

The program is made up of 22 students from TCU, three from Tarleton State University, 14 from The University of Texas at Arlington, five from Tarrant County College, and two from Weatherford College. Twenty-four Cadets are currently on scholarship.

Cadets in the program are enrolled in an aerospace studies course on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s and a leadership laboratory on Thursday’s where the cadets practice marching and engage in group leadership projects.

Annual Dining Out event

Every year AFROTC detachment 845 hosts a Dining Out event and this was the first year a female won the Kenneth and Kaylynn Caldwell Leadership Excellence Award.

Sarena Shilts, a senior mathematics major and cadet wing commander, was the first female to be awarded the scholarship, receiving $5,000.

Kenneth Caldwell was a part of the detachment and wanted to give back to AFROTC as a way to pay tribute since he received so much from the program.

“I am extremely honored and humbled to have received the award,” said Shilts. “Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell embody what it means to give back and I am overwhelming grateful for their support and for detachment 845 for making me the person I am today.”

After graduation, Shilts will be attending pilot training at Laughlin Air Force base in April and said she plans to stay in Fort Worth and teach yoga until she leaves.

FTX

Field Training Exercise, or FTX, is the AFROTC super bowl, as cadet Matthew Flynn puts it.

“It’s a training exercise that the older cadets run for the underclassmen to train them for officer training that they will attend the summer between their sophomore and junior year”,” said Flynn.

Dawson Vasconi, a junior training squadron commander, was in charge of planning the event and said that he loved the opportunity to plan it because it forced him to set mini-goals along the way to ensure a great training even.

Marley Capper is a junior, majoring in political science and journalism, minoring in communication studies. Capper works as a resident assistant, a group fitness instructor for the University Recreation Center, is involved in over 10 organizations on campus and a current Hatton W. Sumners scholar. Capper hopes to attend law school, pursue a career in congressional lawmaking and political reporting.